


who they left behind

by kira_katrine



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-12-21 14:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21076364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kira_katrine/pseuds/kira_katrine
Summary: Data was not programmed to forget things. So why could he not remember?





	who they left behind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flowerdeluce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerdeluce/gifts).

The first thing he was aware of was a thought. Or at least, he perceived it to be a thought. He could not remember having ever experienced one before. This, however, did not seem to come from entirely within his own mind, this sudden recognition that _ the people he was waiting for were here. _

The second thing he was aware of was a soft beeping noise coming from just above his body. He opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar face looking down at him, its owner holding a small mechanical device.

_ Human female, _ his brain told him. His mind contained many faces, attached to many names and their accompanying demographic, occupational and relational data. Hers was not among them. _ The device is a scientific tricorder and the insignia on her chest is the symbol of-- _

“Can you hear me?” the woman said. There was no reply. _\--Starfleet, science division. I have been programmed to recognize this insignia, these signals. _He did not know what for.

“Commander, I really don’t think it can understand,” said another voice--this one male. “We should keep looking around. I’m not sure the answers we’re looking for are here.”

“Someone must have made this,” said the woman. “And it doesn’t look like the kind of thing anybody would just carelessly leave around.”

He suddenly realized the woman had been addressing him. “My auditory systems are functioning within normal parameters,” he said.

The woman’s mouth widened, its corners turning up. His brain attempted to process this change, searching through stored files for something to compare her new face to, for some explanation. No relevant data was found.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “I am Commander Heather Addison, and this is Lieutenant Joseph Hart. We are both of the USS Tripoli.”

“A Starfleet vessel,” he said. “The exploratory and defensive arm of the United Federation of Planets.”

“You know of us?”

“Certainly,” he said. “I have been programmed with the knowledge of the four hundred and eleven inhabitants of the Federation colony of Omicron Theta.” He did not actually remember this happening, either, but he knew this was where the information in his memory cells had come from. “Knowledge of the structure of the Federation was included among those files.”

Commander Addison nodded. “Do you know who left you here?”

He searched his memory files again. Countless people--farmers, doctors, scientists, builders--but nothing he had seen himself. Nothing about where he had been before, or how he had gotten there. “I do not.”

“Did something happen on this planet in the last… six months or so, to leave it like this?”

“I do not understand what you mean,” he said.

“Do you remember _ anything _that happened before you woke up here?”

“The Federation colony of Omicron Theta was founded in 2285 on the planet Kiron III. Its initial residents were a small group of scientists and explorers. They were joined by farmers and tradespeople who assisted them in establishing what became a thriving trading post for--”

“That’s not quite what I meant,” said Addison. 

“Commander, I think it’s just been programmed to give information in response to certain requests. We need to figure out what the right… the right key, I guess, is to get it to--”

“My name is Data.” He could not quite remember when, but he knew he had been called that.

Addison looked back over at the other Starfleet officer, seeming to raise one of her eyebrows at him. Data could not find any point of reference on this either. 

“Well, Data, do you have any record of anything that happened to the Federation colony of Omicron Theta over the past six months?”

“Negative. My records regarding the Federation colony of Omicron Theta end six months and three days ago.”

“That’s right around when it would have happened, if our readings are correct,” said Addison, turning back to Hart. “Perhaps whatever did this to the colony shut him down somehow, and he’s--”

“When what happened?” Data knew there were gaps in his knowledge. He also knew he had been programmed to recall all information he was exposed to. These gaps should not be there. In addition to this attempt to rectify the situation, he would begin a diagnostic scan of his systems as soon as possible, although he realized if it did uncover any malfunctions, he was unsure what he would do with the information.

Then he realized both Starfleet officers had stopped their conversation and were looking at him with yet more unsearchable expressions on their faces.

“We don’t know,” Addison finally said. “The colony here has… everyone seems to have disappeared, but it’s more than that--you’ll see when we go outside.”

“‘We’?” Hart asked.

“We’ll have to get out of this cave for the transporter to pick us up, and I think we ought to beam him up to the ship with us,” Addison said. 

“I’m not sure about this, Commander,” said Hart. “That signal that brought us here… don’t you think there was something weird about that? Leading us straight to this… this android?”

“Weird? I wouldn’t say that,” said Addison. “It is true we’ve never encountered anything like this before, but I’d say that just means this warrants further study.”

“But can we trust it?” Hart asked. “I mean, take a look at these readings. Since it activated, they’ve started to mimic life signs. This is really advanced technology. We have to be careful with something like this.”

“We don’t know what happened here, but whatever it was… maybe they knew it was coming,” Addison said. “Maybe they wanted to leave something behind. Ensure they weren’t forgotten. I’d say we have a duty to those colonists, to do what little we can for them by looking into what they left for us to find.”

“That’s true,” said Hart. “And it’s not my call, Commander. But I do think we should at least let the captain know what we’ve found first, so he and everyone else can be ready if anything does happen.”

“Of course,” Addison said. She turned to Data. “Can you come back to our ship with us?”

“Yes.” These were the people he had been waiting for. He knew that much. Going with them only made sense. 

* * *

It was slightly lighter out once they had left the cave, but not by much. As his visual systems adjusted to the increase, he looked around.

The land was barren and lifeless. The trees were blackened, cracked, and stripped bare. A slight breeze blew, but there were no leaves for it to rustle. No sound of birds singing or humans conversing. The lights in the houses were mostly out; occasionally, a porch light or street lamp flickered. The buildings themselves stood as they had been left, untouched by any living thing in a long time.

This image matched nothing in his database. This image matched nothing he remembered seeing himself, nothing he had been programmed with of anybody else's knowledge, nothing he could make sense of from what he did know. This image did not make sense. This image did not fit. This image did not compute. 

His surroundings faded away in the transporter beam before he could process further.


End file.
